The melody of my song

When I really want to get myself a special gift, I get myself old magazines. I love everything about them. The style, photos, the smell of old paper, the crazy creativity, the absence of cynicism. My favorite period… the 70s. This decade saw the woman redefine herself. Oftentimes with clumsiness, always with seriousness and tons of joy.

I was bedazzled flipping through an issue of Vogue from ’73. Sylvie Vartan on the cover… sublime. On the inside, a few quotes from Emanuel Ungaro,

“Every woman has to find the melody to her own song. When she’s found it, she’s found herself. There is an intimate harmony between her inner and outer self, a harmony called style. The clothes must be forgotten and any impression that something is being worn must disappear. The problem is not to follow fashion. What fashion? You have to follow your path, go toward your own truth. I want liquid fashion, I want the work behind it to be imperceptible. I want everything to flow, color to flow, sentiment to flow, beauty to flow.

“And at night, you can live the dream, amuse yourself, totally diversify. With simplicity, you add personality: makeup, choice hairstyle, different jewelry then you wear during the day.

“I like women who are not sure of themselves. I like the moment when a woman thinks she is not good enough, pretty enough. It’s wonderful. It’s like I’ve scratched the surface and discovered something…”

The fact that style can contribute to the thread of its own truth… I like it !

I have some old 70′s ones from my mum….but I started collecting in 1987 so I have every UK vogue from then….and quite a lot of French and American (and a few Italian) -yikes – they take up a SIGNIFICANT amount of space chez moi! I don’t read them as often as I should….

What a superb quote by Mr Ungaro. But even if we find our own song, sometimes the record gets scratched and we need to look out for inspiration – hence the magazines and blogs. Then we can keep humming our melody, maybe with slightly different notes. After all, one song only might get a little stale after a while, no?!

P.S. I have sent you an email about an interview for a magazine down here in the Gulf…. If you can find the time, that would be great! xx

I had found some vintage Playboy magazines at work not too long ago. They were so strange and odd! Not what one would think of Playboy today. But this is also why I am keeping all of my Teen Vogues to pass along to some child one day!!

I miss the days when (American fashion magazines especially) featured models on the cover, not celebrities. This is an exception, though: it’s Sylvie Vartan after all!
Love old periodicals, the 70′s, and Sylvie’s orange lips in this photo!

i think 70′s were the fun times… each decade had its significant style…
now i think fashion has become inspired by too many things at the same time and has lost its definitive bracket.. I mean there’s no ‘it’ style that could define the present decade..
thats bad in a way but really great that there are so many trends to chose from!

Every time I have some old magazine in my hands I realize the terrific fast paste of our modern times. So many things are great and beautiful……..and forgotten.
Are we too sarcastic to even admit that we might be wrong?

Garance, I promise to learn french so that I can post in french what I want to say, everithing sound so much better in french :) I have some Marie Claires from the 30`s and it`s such an escape to read them from time to time. they`re in french, but I understand some of it, it`s not that different from my own language..but the fashion, the style, the illustrations! So creative,so pretty and so..30`s! I think you would find them wonderful..maybe in Paris they`re nothing special, but for me they are..Love your blog, your style and your mind! sometimes when I feel a little down..or maybe a little lazy..I think, no! be happy, be pretty, be smart! like garance! and I instantly smile and I`m better :) I`ve been reading you for just a little while, and everyday you bring me joy, thank you my dear! hope you have a wonderful day, you deserve it!

I have the feeling that designers don’t say such interestings things anymore. In the 70′s they were worried about what women thought or felt like. Nowadays I have the feeling they are only worried about themselves and their view of the world, the fashion world, maybe because sometimes they are way too young

Superb styling by Miss Garance on that pic. ;D No seriously, the cup of coffee, you had to think of it, and it looks super great! Lovely quote too. I’m collecting but definitely not old enough to have such treasures, so I qualify VOGUE 2006 as vintage in the meantime ;) Have a wonderful day! xx

garance, I love everything about this post: the way you photographed and styled it – and that quote! It articulates what I feel too, but can never explain.

Like someone above, I always buy old magazines in Paris from that amazing shop in the 3rd/4th – to look at one is like opening up another world. At home I have Italian Vogues from 1990 on, lots of French Vogues and about 15 years worth of UK Vogue, which ironically is my least favourite (I eventually binned the US Vogues!) as well as Harpers Bazaars from the Liz Tilberis era, 80s Face and ID and complete sets of short runs like The Fashion, Frank magazine and Dutch. They sit in a big bookcase gathering dust and I hardly ever look at them. This post just made me realise I have to make the effort to keep them – in 20 years they’ll be ready to crack open again!

wow, those words from Ungaro were awesome…. so true.. beautiful really.
Do you have your magazines from before, like do you keep them from before? i know you bought this one but, i mean, were do you get them? Ahahaha, i really would like one they mustt cost a lot more tho!

“I like women who are not sure of themselves. I like the moment when a woman thinks she is not good enough, pretty enough. It’s wonderful. It’s like I’ve scratched the surface and discovered something…”

Bonjour Garance -
I’ve been following your blog since the beginning of the year now, and have finally gotten the nerve to leave a message! I live in Vancouver, and absolutely love reading your posts in the morning (I must say, I really missed them when you were on holiday…)
Anyway, today’s post had me think of my friend’s business here in Vancouver – she and a partner do something called Style Statement which is very much what Emanuel Ungaro mentions. It’s all about finding your true essence, and using that to help make decisions about anything really, but most interestingly about your essential style. http://www.stylestatement.com/
PS Oh – and those Chloe boots are fabulous – I ordered the more casual version (the wedge runner laceups) from Net-a-Porter last week and am itching to wear them! Thanks for the tip!!

I agree! I’ve been buying old Harper’s Bazaars ever since I read “A Dash of Daring,” the Carmel Snow bio, last year. There are tons on them on ebay and its so fun reading magazines and thinking about what the women of that time were going thru, especially the WW2 era magazines.

It cool to hear that other people keep all their magazines to so when there older they will be vintage. I thoght I was the only one to do that. But then I the only girl at my school with a subcrition to vouge. xx

This is giving me hope… not only the bit about ‘finding your own melody’ but also to realise there might be sense in my madness not having thrown away any of my Vogues since the 80s… Yes, they take up a lot of space but isn’t it fun to take them out for inspiration? The 70s are still my favourite time ever, though – best music, clothes & memories! (now this really sounds OLD)

“I like women who are not sure of themselves. I like the moment when a woman thinks she is not good enough, pretty enough. It’s wonderful. It’s like I’ve scratched the surface and discovered something…”